Milihttp://www.maclife.com/taxonomy/term/7798/all
enShowdown: iPhone 3G/3GS & iPhone 4 Battery Caseshttp://www.maclife.com/article/features/showdown_iphone_3g3gs_iphone_4_battery_cases
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Searching for the best battery case for your iPhone? We put five iPhone 4 and five iPhone 3G/3GS cases through rigorous testing to discover the most powerful option.</h3><p>Like a good friend, your iPhone is there for you when you need it. But unlike your best pal, the iPhone has a tendency to conk out at the worst moment if you forget to charge its battery. <br /><br />The solution is a battery pack. These come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and prices. Case-style power packs are the most convenient and portable. Since they’re designed to fit snugly, they’re phone-specific, so make sure you get the right model for your iPhone. To help you choose, we’ve selected five for the iPhone 4 and five for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. We put each case through rigorous real-world tests, using an 8-month-old iPhone 3GS and 3-month-old iPhone 4. Both phones’ batteries have run up a fair number of charge cycles, so your results may differ if your battery is much older or newer. <br /><br />We measured how much charge each pack could push into a dead iPhone, then timed how long it took to charge the pack and the phone fully—useful to know if you’re off somewhere and want to go out with as much charge as possible. Finally, we left the guided tour of Unreal’s Epic Citadel running, which really mashes away at the processor and hence the battery—a true acid test. Let’s see how they fared.<br /><br /></p><h3>How We Selected</h3><p>Plenty of batteries plug into your iPhone’s Dock connector to charge it, but in this test, we’re looking at case-style power packs, five for the iPhone 4 and five for the 3G/3GS. We list the manufacturers' suggested list prices, but most can be found for less (sometimes much less) at resellers like <a href="http://amazon.com" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>.<br /><br /></p><h2>iPhone 4 Battery Cases</h2><h3>Test 01</h3><p>We plugged the full battery pack into a dead iPhone 4 and left it to charge with the phone on but the display off. The battery percentage reading was taken from the iPhone as soon as the battery case was empty. The high-capacity Dexim came out top; the Exogear was surprisingly low.</p><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/test1battery.jpg" width="620" height="235" /></p><h3>Test 02</h3><p>We plugged a dead battery pack and dead iPhone 4 into a 500mA USB port on our Mac and timed how long it took for both to charge fully. Don’t hold your breath—it ain’t quick. The Mophie did well, but the Logic3 was fastest. It’s not the whole story though—look at Test 03, below.</p><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/test2battery.jpg" width="620" height="235" /></p><h3>Test 03</h3><p>With the pack and iPhone charged, we left the guided tour of Unreal’s Epic Citadel running with sound muted and timed how much extra time we got with the battery compared to the iPhone on its own. This is where the differences really showed up.</p><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/test3battery.jpg" width="620" height="235" /></p><h3>Test 04 Design and Features</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/test4.jpg" width="320" height="188" /></p><p>We like Dexim’s flip-case design for the screen protection it offers, though it’s the bulkiest of the ones we tested, it doesn’t grip the phone so well, and the flip clip isn’t particularly elegant.<br /><br />The Mili’s one-piece spring clip, which hooks over the top of the iPhone, is a nice idea that just doesn’t work because it kept coming loose in our pocket. And the Exogear’s clip-on ring is functional but flimsy—the case is mighty thin, though. Our favorites are the Logic3 and the Mophie: the former for its one-piece design, and the latter because it’s solid, looks the part, and has a nice rubber back.<br /><br />All five have a power switch, so you can decide when to use the charge in the battery to boost your iPhone. With the Mili, it won’t start charging until you press its On button, but you can’t then stop it without removing the iPhone—less elegant than the others. And all these cases except the Dexim have a strip of lights that shows you how much juice is in the battery. The Dexim does have a light to tell you if it’s charging (orange) or full (green), but the light color changes depending on your angle of view—very frustrating.</p><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/batteryresults.jpg" width="620" height="274" /></p><h2>And the Winner is… Mophie Juice Pack Air</h2><h3>The Mophie’s performance and design panache make it a worthy winner</h3><p>This test has brought out a surprising trait in us—we’ve started to sympathize with the American Idol judges. When faced with two completely different choices, each with its own distinct strengths, how do you pick between them? Unlike the Idol crew, we didn’t have to factor in American teenagers’ votes-by-text or put up with Ryan Seacrest. But it was still tough.<br /><br />While we liked the phenomenal capacity and added use time of the Dexim, its design lacks finesse, and since you’ve got a stylish and well-designed phone, you need a case to match. For the same reason, we didn’t feel the Mili and Exogear packs were quite up to scratch, despite the Mili’s impressive additional use time.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/mophiewinner.jpg" width="620" height="300" /></p><p>And so we were left with our final two. As we said in the design test, we were equally impressed by the Logic3 and Mophie cases, and felt both were a worthy complement to the iPhone 4’s sleek looks. In terms of how much juice they pumped into the phone, they were practically identical, and they were the two quickest-charging packs we tested. <br /><br />So it came down to whether the Mophie’s more-than-double additional use time justified its almost-double price tag. Let’s first say that we do think $80 is on the expensive side, and that at $50, the Logic3 is an attractive option if you’re on a tight budget. (Remember to shop around!) But at the end of the day, if you’re going to shell out for a battery case, it’s because you’re the sort of heavy iPhone user who regularly finds your battery running out, so the more additional use time you get, the better. And while the Mophie isn’t the supreme winner in that test, it offers the best overall balance of great design and good performance. It protects your phone well, it’s solidly built but still thin, it oozes class, and it gives you plenty of extra time to enjoy all that’s great about your iPhone.</p><hr /><h2>iPhone 3G/3GS Battery Cases</h2><h3>Test 01</h3><p>We plugged the full battery pack into a dead iPhone 3GS and left it to charge with the phone on, but the display off. The battery percentage reading was taken from the iPhone as soon as the battery case was empty. The Energizer AP1500, despite being good on paper, performed poorly.</p><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/test1-abattery.jpg" width="620" height="235" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>Test 02</h3><p>We plugged a dead battery pack and dead iPhone into a 500mA USB port on our Mac and timed how long it took for both to charge fully. Don’t stand around watching that process—it takes forever, though we were impressed by the Energizer’s and Mili’s times and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Mophie’s.</p><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/test2-abattery.jpg" width="620" height="235" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>Test 03</h3><p>With the pack and iPhone 3GS charged, we left the guided tour of Unreal’s Epic Citadel running with sound muted, and timed how much extra time we got with the battery compared to the iPhone on its own. As you can see, none got us quite up to two extra hours.</p><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/test3-abattery.jpg" width="620" height="235" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>Test 04 Design and Features</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/test4-abattery.jpg" width="320" height="188" /></p><p>You will notice that the Logic3 and Dexim leather cases are virtually identical, the only significant differences being the type of leather coating and the fact that the Dexim has a velcro clasp while the Logic3 has a magnet. We preferred the Logic3. But both these cases are bulkier than the Mili and Mophie ones. <br /><br />The Mili’s clip-on design (which didn’t work with the iPhone 4) grips the 3G/3GS much better, and it also leaves the iPhone’s side-mounted buttons more accessible. The Mophie looks similar to the Mili, but the top is a separate slide-on piece.<br /><br />The Mili, Energizer, and Mophie cases all have a strip of lights to show you the remaining charge level, and we like the Mophie’s best because the button is easier to press than the button on the Mili. The Logic3 and Dexim battery cases only have a status light that doesn’t show you how much juice they still have left in the tank. <br /><br />All five have switches so that you can decide when to use the juice in the pack, although the only way to cut off power with the Mili is to remove the phone.</p><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/resultsabattery.jpg" width="620" height="274" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><h2>And the Winner is… Mili Power Spring</h2><h3>In a close contest, the convenience of speedy charging is worth the extra cash</h3><p>We agonized long and hard about this one. Let’s first explain why we didn’t go for the Energizer case. It’s got an expensive list price, although you can find it for around $20 on Amazon, a real steal. But then if you’re investing in a battery pack, why get one that delivered so much less extra use time compared to the others?</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/miliwinner.jpg" width="620" height="300" /></p><p>So our attention turns to those others. In terms of how much charge they gave our iPhone and the additional use time they provided, there’s nothing really to choose between them. If we were interested purely in these two things, the Logic3 case would be a good bet, and we preferred its magnet clasp to the Dexim’s velcro. We like Logic3’s flip-case style despite the extra bulk, and its price tag is relatively reasonable (<a href="http://logic3.com" target="_blank">logic3.com</a> gives prices in British pounds but will ship to the U.S.). But even with this, we can’t help feeling you’d be better off shelling out another $15 or so for the Mili, and here’s why. Granted, you don’t get any additional capacity or video time at the top-end of the price scale, but the Mili and Mophie products have three distinct advantages. First, there’s the charge level indicator, which we find incredibly useful, and the fact that they’re much lighter. But more importantly, look at those charge times! They’re both significantly less than the Logic3 and Dexim cases. And we like that, because if you’ve only got a short time to get your phone charged before you go out, speed matters and these guys deliver.<br /><br />While some of the minutiae on the Mophie are better-implemented (the On/Off switch and the charge level button, for example), the Mili’s quicker charge time, coupled with the handier one-piece design and the way the iPhone’s buttons were easier to press with the case on, are what swung us in its favor.</p>http://www.maclife.com/article/features/showdown_iphone_3g3gs_iphone_4_battery_cases#commentsbatteryBattery Packcases. EnergizerDeximExogearExternal BatteryHardwareiPhone 3Giphone 3gsiphone 4iPhone HardwareLogic3MiliMophieFeaturesiPhoneTue, 22 Mar 2011 19:25:30 +0000Laurence Cable10268 at http://www.maclife.comMiLi Power Spring 4 Reviewhttp://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/mili_power_spring_4_review
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/mili1.jpg" width="620" height="300" /></p><p><strong>Capacity:</strong> 1600mAh<br /><strong><br />Connector:</strong> Mini-USB<br /><br /><strong>Dimensions:</strong> 2.4x5.0x0.7 in.<br /><br /><strong>Weight:</strong> 2.9 oz.</p><fieldset class="fieldgroup group-the-bottom-line"><legend>Review Synopsis</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-product">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Product:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
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<!--paging_filter--><p>MiLi Power Spring 4</p> </div>
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<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Company:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
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MiLi </div>
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<div class="field field-type-text field-field-contact">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Contact:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
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<!--paging_filter--><p><a href="http://www.iphonemili.com" target="_blank">www.iphonemili.com</a></p> </div>
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<div class="field field-type-text field-field-price">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Price:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
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$79.95 </div>
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<div class="field field-type-text field-field-requirements">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Requirements:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
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<!--paging_filter--><p>iPhone 4</p> </div>
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http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/mili_power_spring_4_review#commentsReviewsCasesHardwareiphone 4iphone casesiPhone HardwareMiliiPhoneMon, 28 Feb 2011 16:49:42 +0000Laurence Cable10289 at http://www.maclife.comMili Power Spring for iPhone 3G/3GS Reviewhttp://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/mili_power_spring_iphone_3g3gs_review
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u307916/2011/4/battery/mili2.jpg" width="620" height="300" /></p><p><strong>Capacity:</strong> 1200mAh<br /><br /><strong>Connector:</strong> Mini-USB<br /><strong><br />Dimensions:</strong> 2.5x4.9x0.7 in.<br /><br /><strong>Weight:</strong> 2.6 oz.</p><fieldset class="fieldgroup group-the-bottom-line"><legend>Review Synopsis</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-product">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Product:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<!--paging_filter--><p>Mili Power Spring for iPhone 3G/3GS</p> </div>
</div>
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<div class="field field-type-text field-field-company">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Company:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
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MiLi </div>
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<div class="field field-type-text field-field-contact">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Contact:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
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<!--paging_filter--><p><a href="http://www.iphonemili.com" target="_blank">www.iphonemili.com</a></p> </div>
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<div class="field field-type-text field-field-price">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Price:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
$79.95 </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-requirements">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Requirements:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<!--paging_filter--><p>iPhone 3G/3GS</p> </div>
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http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/mili_power_spring_iphone_3g3gs_review#commentsReviewsCasesHardwareiPhone 3Giphone 3gsiphone casesiPhone HardwareMiliiPhoneMon, 28 Feb 2011 16:49:42 +0000Laurence Cable10291 at http://www.maclife.com